Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Radiation therapy, which is the use of ionizing radiation, is a localized treatment for a specific target tissue, such as a cancerous tumor. Ideally, radiation therapy is performed on target tissue (also referred to as the planning target volume) that spares the surrounding normal tissue from receiving doses above specified tolerances, thereby minimizing risk of damage to healthy tissue. So that the prescribed dose is correctly supplied to the planning target volume during radiation therapy, the patient should be precisely positioned relative to the linear accelerator that provides the radiation therapy, typically with a movable treatment couch mounted on a turntable assembly. In addition, radiotherapy beams can be shaped around the target tissue to give a high radiation dose to a cancerous tumor while minimizing dosing to the surrounding healthy tissue, thereby reducing the risk of side effects. Furthermore, small changes in the position of the target tissue can be accommodated with image guided radiotherapy (IGRT), in which X-ray scans are employed before and during radiotherapy treatment to determine in real-time the size, shape, and position of the target tissue as well as the surrounding tissues and bones.
A radiation therapy system capable of providing sophisticated treatments like IGRT can be complex to operate, and users generally require extensive training to perform the various workflows on the system efficiently. For instance, performance of patient treatments, system calibration, and other radiation therapy workflows typically involve various functions, inputs, setting adjustments, and motion enable commands. To enable such workflows, a conventional radiation therapy system can have dozens or more different input buttons, switches, scroll wheels, and other input mechanisms for receiving user inputs. Furthermore, a typical radiation therapy workflow usually involves a specific sequence of user inputs selected from this multiplicity of input mechanisms. Consequently, when performing a radiation therapy workflow, selecting the next correct input button or switch from among the dozens of possible input mechanisms available can be problematic and time-consuming. As a result, unless an operator is very experienced with a particular radiation therapy system, utilization of the system will not be maximized, which slows amortization of the system and degrades the radiation therapy experience of the patient.
In light of the above, there is a need in the art for a user interface that facilitates efficient and accurate performance of radiation therapy workflows associated with a radiation therapy system.